


Accords To Last An Eternity

by FromAnonymousToZ



Series: Political Saga [8]
Category: Over the Garden Wall (Cartoon & Comics)
Genre: Choosing alliances, Difficult Decisions, Do I tag for this?, Enoch making decisions, M/M, Political Alliances, Political saga, Politics, Pre-Relationship, Song Parody, Song fic?, You can have some context, as a treat, i guess, what, world building
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-25
Updated: 2020-09-25
Packaged: 2021-03-08 03:00:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,964
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26638474
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FromAnonymousToZ/pseuds/FromAnonymousToZ
Summary: In the very beginning, they had to choose their sides.
Relationships: The Beast/Enoch (Over the Garden Wall), pre relationship - Relationship
Series: Political Saga [8]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2065539
Comments: 2
Kudos: 19





	Accords To Last An Eternity

**Author's Note:**

> Each lyric isn't necessarily actual dialog between the characters, its just… say an inner monolog that's heavily implied to the other characters.  
> Key:  
> Beast- Bold  
> Queen of the Clouds- Italics  
> Enoch- Underlined
> 
> The song is based on The Riddle from the musical Scarlet Pimpernel, it, sort of? follows the same tune, but I've changed up most of the lines and I don't have much of an ear for music but there are a few lines where I *defiantly* messed up the cadence. Also I cut a reasonable portion of the song.

When they are left to so few they really should be united. 

In a group of only six they really shouldn't be so divided. It shouldn't be possible for only six to have so many sides, so many fragile alliances and such complex politics.

And yet, they do.

Enoch finds himself faced with a choice. 

They are newer then, fresh out of war and territory disputes and death for the first time in centuries. Now is the time they will make their alliances that will last for eternity. 

There is already bad blood in the water between some of them, blood left over from the wars and the debates. Choosing wrongly now could put you on the wrong side of history, one wrong alliance could put you out of favor of the others. 

It was dangerous business choosing allies, but it was more dangerous not doing so.

Enoch ponders it, ribbons flicking idly as he stands at the border, peering up at the moon with the Beast to one side.

**See the moon slink down in the sky, Death Rearer**

“You shall have to make a decision soon enough, Death Rearer. You cannot hold fragile alliances with everyone forever. You must choose a side.” The Beast’s voice is soft, but it cuts through the silence of the night.

Enoch does not speak.

They are old acquaintances by this point.

But perhaps not for much longer.

**Let your judgement fly, My Friend**

“I shall not hold it against you when you ally yourself with them.” The Beast says simply.

Enoch watches the stars as they twinkle in the sky but he does not speak. 

**The world is cold, and the game is old**

He lifts neither his voice or an opinion when the Beast departs that night, simply watches his retreating antlers and thinks of old alliances and new deals and what is to be gained from each.

* * *

Her breeze ripples his ribbons and alerts him to his presence before he turns to greet her.

_Just see how foolishness repays you_

“You are not a fool, Lord Autumn.” She says and he peers at her from the corner of his eye as he ghosts along the border, ever silent save the rasp of ribbons across the earth. 

They’ve all thrown down their chips at this point, turned their cards to the table, but Enoch is a pensive creature, and if he chooses to reveal his hand to them, it is a long way off, but he is yet to make a decision. 

“I do not see why you must think it over so, there is only one true choice. If you choose to ally yourself with him, you shall isolate yourself and put yourself _and_ ,” She emphasizes. “Your town in a precarious position.” 

Enoch laces one ribbon through the slats of the fence and pulls it upright from where it has tilted.

_You’ll turn and he will betray you_

“He is not trustworthy, you’ve seen what he’s done to mortals, how he twists his words and lies.” Her words are truthful, and Enoch pauses to analyze their merit. 

He has seen what she does to mortals too. 

He continues his silent patrol.

_Betray him first and the game's reversed_

“I trust you will make the correct choice, Harvest King.” And she departs in a gust of cool wind. 

Enoch gazes out over Pottsfeild, then out to the wood, and then up to the heavens, and hums. 

He intends to.

* * *

“There is no wrong choice, Harvest Lord.” The Beast says as he walks along the border. 

Enoch keeps pace with him in the cat skin.

**It's all one long dangerous riddle**

“There is a less dangerous choice, perhaps.” The Beast says after a moment of consideration, claws tapping where a chin might be beneath shadow.

Enoch does not reply.

**And you’ve been caught in the middle.**

“You are a stubborn creature, Harvest Lord.” 

The Beast comes to a stop, turning those disk-like eyes to Enoch. 

“You put yourself at great risk if you choose to ally yourself with me. You have been putting yourself at risk as it is, even considering such things.” He is quiet for a long time, and Enoch does not break the silence. 

The winter patron has more to say, Enoch can feel it, so he remains silent. 

“I can survive without allies,” The Beast says.

**Can I trust you? Should you trust me too?**

“Can you, Harvest Lord?”

The winter lord does not linger and wait for an answer, which is just as well, because Enoch has none to offer him. 

So Enoch sits upon their border, and listens to the distant song of winter, tail giving a single flick as he ponders.

* * *

The Beast thinks him a fool.

Enoch can tell.

_Resist his spell_

“You cannot put off the inevitable, Death Rearer. One day, they will force you to choose.”

The Beast tilts his head and his lantern gleams. 

“Only a fool would not choose the promise of survival.”

Enoch intends to choose the one that will promise such a thing.

_Taking on more favors to sell_

The Queen of the Clouds thinks him a fool.

Enoch can tell.

“He will not value your consideration of him, so do not stall as if you do not know your choice.” 

Enoch does not acknowledge her, his head tilted down somberly.

_Till there will come a day_

Enoch is a god of death. 

He is not the sort to play for the short term. 

It is in his nature to think of the long run, because he is the sort of creature that deals in eternities rather than decades. 

And so he will ponder for as long as he needs to.

**When we’ll trade our debts away**

A thousand years is hardly a long time to form accords that will last an eternity.

* * *

They are growing impatient, or at least the Queen of the Clouds is. The Beast does not care one way or the other.

Enoch does not care that they are impatient.

He is not some insignificant spirit.

**_And we all have so many debts_ **

He is a large power on this game board, an immeasurable potential risk and an immensely powerful potential ally.

He knows it, just as he knows that as this game goes on longer he will only become more of a power. 

They cannot simply bulldoze him in this picking of alliances, they cannot cast him aside, because he is too much of a crucial piece in this game. 

He is not a fool, he knows he is not so critical a piece, that he could win on his own, and he must choose a side that gives him the best chance of winning, but he knows that he can tip a scale if it comes to it. 

The Beast does not care for winning, he simply states he will survive. Perhaps he cannot see the long game, or perhaps he knows something they do not. 

Lady Midnight does not care for winning either, she has chosen to remain impassive in this game, and she has forfeited victory in the endgame.

But the rest, the rest are set on winning, of surviving and claiming, each and every one of them, no matter what it takes. 

So the question comes, does he place himself on a side that will in the end be forced to turn upon itself, one with tangential safety. Or does he place himself on a side that does not want to win, and hope that by his presence alone he can hold them at bay until the others have torn each other apart. Or perhaps the question lies in whether the Beast is as unequipped to fend them off as they seem to believe. 

Maybe his decision should not be on the allies he might need, but placed instead on the enemies he does not want to make.

He shall have to think further upon it.

They may grow impatient with him.

_Which of his lies flickers through your eyes?_

But he will not be quickly swayed. 

So they will simply have to wait.

* * *

She finds him in the cat skin. 

He is sitting atop the barn watching the sun rise in the distance, painting the fringes of the winter forest red.

“I have been forgiving of your need for time but I grow impatient, Lord Autumn. Your decision must come soon.” 

_Feel the terror draw ever nearer_

“Why?” He asks, and licks a stripe down one of his paws, taming a tuft of dark fur. “Do you think anyone would dare upset this fragile balance while my favor is still in the air?” 

“Do you wish to make an enemy of me, Harvest King?” The fury in her voice seethes. 

His tail flicks idly. 

“If you are so sure that your favor is the one I shall choose, why do you feel the need to hurry my decision?” Enoch strains his ears for a flicker of winter’s song, but he does not hear it so he speaks. “If you truly believe that my decision is inevitable.” 

“Do you feel no sense of urgency over this matter?”

“In truth?” He asks her, finally gazing upon her in all of her gossamer glory, he yawns, lazily. “No.” 

He settles upon his paws. 

“I do not see the reason such decisions should be rushed, nor do I see the wisdom in it.”

_And yet you stand on the fence_

“You see, Sky Quaker,” He says. “So long as someone’s favor remains undecided, no one shall dare to make a move, because in doing so they could risk their actions swaying such a decision against themselves.”

She is silent beside him.

“There are options to be weighed, consequences to anticipate for and prevent, I have my town to care for, and unlike you, I cannot simply strike him so easily as you do. Our borders run together, his and mine. There will come times when I must expand, and we will have contact, there will be prey that we shall share,

“I cannot risk loosing his favor as easily as you, your quarry and his may be similar, but you are not in direct competition and on the same playing field as he and I are.” 

He flicks his tail as the sun begins to creep into Pottsfeild, gracing the very tips of his ears in gilded light. 

_But if you want to hold your own,_

“And you turn him aside so easily, perhaps you do not realize it yet, but this arrangement we are making shall last a long time, longer than any of us can possibly anticipate. I believe you will find that alliances will fade and be woven by need in that time,

“I will be quite surprised, My Lady, if you and he do not do business or deal in some way, at some point in the relative future.

“Perhaps it should be considered that though these will be the alliances we will fall back on, we will need to form other alliances as the need arises throughout this upcoming… calm. We cannot anticipate what we may have need of in the coming years.” 

He stares out at the horizon.

_By all means, face the wind alone_

“You ask if I could bear to make an enemy of you,” He stands, and stretches, feeling the spine of this cat skin crack. “But by your urging I think perhaps it is you, who cannot bear to make an enemy of me.” 

He turns to gaze upon her to gauge her reaction, but she is no longer there. 

He simply hums, and settles back down to watch the last traces of the sunrise.

* * *

Enoch wonders how the Beast knows what he spoke of with the Queen of the Clouds, but they speak of it that night.

**Death Rearer, you’re making a mistake**

“I am a patient creature, Harvest Lord, I can wait for however long it takes for your answer.”

“And if you are the answer?”

“Then you will have made an unwise mistake.” 

Enoch’s ribbons rake across dead leaves. 

“I have heard such a thing many times over, but this is the first time from you, Hope Eater.”

**You and I, we’ll fall like stars**

“And yet, I have never been asked why I would make such a decision. Not by you, not by the Queen of the Tempest.”

“I cannot fathom why you would. However,” The Beast says as he leans back against the tree. “If I were to ask, I am sure whatever reasoning you come to, makes sense to you, Harvest Lord.” 

“But you will not ask.” 

“No.” He pauses, but speaks again. “You are not like me, nor are you like any of the others, you are more than a spirit, and more than a patron, but I could not tell you what you are, because I do not believe you could tell me such a thing.

“Each of them has their own reasons for choosing the alliances they did, as will you, Harvest Lord.” 

The Beast closes his luminous eyes and melts into the darkness of the tree line, without those bright pinpricks it is hard to tell him apart from the rest of the wood. 

“But I do not care what they are. The why does not affect me, only what results from it.” 

**Then there will come a day**

Enoch hums. 

“You are such a fascinating creature.” He says finally. 

“The same may be said for you, Death Rearer.” 

“And I am sure it is.” 

“I shall be most interested in your decision when it comes.”

Enoch sighs.

**When we trade our debts away**

“As shall I…” Enoch mutters to himself.

* * *

Enoch watches the Beast warily from the raven’s skin as the winter warden stalked through the woods. 

His voice spills out over the forest and up into the sky, Enoch dips a wing to get closer to the source. 

If the Beast has any particular goal, it does not divulge itself to Enoch. To him it seems the winter warden is simply stalking through the woods and singing, occasionally pausing to inspect a tree or scoring it with his claws. 

Every now and then he’ll pause, nudge some rocks and leaves around with his feet, or draw some strange shape in the dirt. 

The song ebbs and flows, sometimes it hits those precise notes just beyond the realm of sound that make the world quake and makes reality seem thin and brittle and easily broken if one pushes just a little harder upon it.

The sort of song that can loosen the threads of a beldam’s web by tapping the fringes of reality just forcefully enough to make it ripple, the sort of song that undermined the foundation of illusion and caused it to crumble. 

It’s a song Enoch is very familiar with, because it’s one of his. 

The Beast was a collector of songs and sounds and music. What Enoch had not realized was that the winter warden had begun collecting _his_ songs. 

The Beast stops in his untraceable path and Enoch banks around to circle him. 

Enoch watches from high in the sky as the Beast began to climb one of the trees. 

Can I turn to you? Are you true to me?

Enoch lands on one of the branches of the tree. Peering at the Beast as the winter warden hoped nimbly up through the branches before coming to a halt and resting in a crouch on one of the branches just below Enoch. 

Enoch watches him for a long time, the Beast remains still, his eyes swimming with color and remaining fixed upon the path below.

**I'll do for you what you’ll do for me**

“Good evening, Harvest lord.” 

Enoch does not speak. 

He simply hops from one branch to the next until he comes to rest upon the Beast’s antlers. His talons grip wood and the night is still. 

The wind ruffles his feathers and makes the furs upon the Beast’s shoulders wave.

_You will learn, someone has to die_

Enoch lights into the sky

_Better him than you_

As he allows the wind to embrace him he parts his beak and gives a few crowing notes to his song. 

Behind him drifted barking laughter, followed by the crooning of winter’s song, it hung with him as he returned to Pottsfeild. 

The north wind howled with laughter as it buffeted him onward.

* * *

The Beast is fond of him. 

Enoch decides it, one night when the moon is high and the cornstalks only half grown. 

There’s no other reason such a reclusive creature would choose to venture to Pottsfeild. 

Alliances had been built on less.

But Enoch is wary, it will not matter if the Beast is fond of him if the Beast is more fond of the idea of Enoch dead. 

The Beast, for all he seems like a very blunt creature, has a way of twisting words to hide his intentions, and he plays his cards close to his chest. While Enoch is not so delusional as to believe the Beast might be more fond of Enoch than his forest, he does need to know where the fine line of the Beast’s fondness ended. 

It was a game of investment.

If Enoch could figure out how much the Beast would be willing to invest in his and Pottsfeild’s safety, he could figure out how much he should invest in the winter wood.

Alliances were all about equivalent exchange, and as Enoch weighed each of his options he weighed the investment.

He was rather good at such things, the problem was fondness.

Fondness was a variable, one that Enoch knew how to account for on his end, but didn't know how to factor it in on the Beast’s end. 

Alliances built on fondness were different from alliances based on necessity or desire for something the other has. 

They were more unpredictable and were prone to wavering, and such things were difficult to measure and predict. 

Every one of us has pledged our allegiance 

Fondness was prone to turning into loathing or bitterness.

Enoch sighed in frustration. 

Perhaps alliances built upon solid needs and wants were more reliable. 

Fondness was difficult to measure, but a need for iron was easily measured, manipulated, and predicted. A need for souls or a want to have a greater power on your side, that was all easy to predict, it was relatively low risk, and any risks could be calculated and avoided. 

Fondness was… intangible in a way other things are not.

_But finally treason will seize him_

Besides, there was no proof of any kind that Enoch had that the Beast was true to his word. 

Only Lady Midnight’s offhanded comment about how careful he was with his debt keeping and The Queen of the Cloud’s reluctant admittance that despite his steep bargaining and unpleasant tactics he was fair, served as his proof. 

To his knowledge the Beast had never been allied with another, not to the point of anything other than twisting others to his will and exchanging favors and debts now and then. 

Alliances were more than favors, they were promises of sorts, to watch each other's backs, so to speak. 

Forming an alliance among creatures like them wasn't a promise not to turn upon someone, it was a promise that you would _only_ turn upon them once every other foe was dead. 

_Only fools follow golden rules_

The Queen of the Clouds often insisted the Beast would not hold the alliance true.

It was one of her favorite tactics, and it was perhaps the most effective. Perhaps she knew that, and that was why she used it so often. 

It often left Enoch sitting in the hay of his barn, anxiously fretting his tendrils as he worried.

And yet every time the Queen of the Clouds left him to ponder in his anxiousness, worrying, deciding and undermining his decisions, the Beast would come again, perhaps weeks later, and would ease Enoch’s worries.

**We’re simply caught in the middle**

The Beast never gave any inclination that he was amenable to the alliance, but never exactly spoke against it, merely saying that it was not wise. 

He never said that he would defend Enoch if they were allied, never guaranteed protection or even kindness. 

He simply spoke, he spoke of the grander abstract concepts like meanings of life and of small ordinary things like the quality of dirt as if they were both the same to him. 

Sometimes they spoke of politics, of the politics of the winter wood or Pottsfeild, or the politics of the greater world. 

Sometimes they speak of the potential alliance. 

The Beast does not think it is wise for Enoch and does not know why Enoch considers it, but refuses to undermine the Harvest Lord by explaining his doubts. 

He simply shakes his head and tells Enoch that there is no wrong side, just as there is no right side.

**Of a game played by those who think they’ve solved the riddle**

There is only the winning side,

And the losing one.

* * *

Enoch made his decision.

He was no fool, he did not shout it to the heavens nor did he send his ravens out with his decision on their claws. He did not declare it or write it, he did not even breathe of it.

He simply bowed his head, the great starlit sky like a banner blazing above him and whispered his secret to the earth to keep deep beneath the soil tucked against his bosom. 

Then he lifted his head, turning his eyes towards the sky, and surveyed the horizon where the glowing eye of the moon lingered and turned to make his way back into his barn.

**Of who dares to trust who**

Deep in the winter woods, but not so deep that he could not see the glowing lights of Pottsfeild, the winter warden lingered.

His claws scored deep in the bark of the tree he was clutching as he watched the barn doors of the lord of Pottsfeild had swung shut. 

So the harvest lord had chosen. 

It could be felt, there was no longer a piece at stake. 

In some way, power had shifted. 

But in which direction?

What he had chosen remained a secret between the harvest lord and the earth. 

And the earth was truly the only thing the harvest lord could tell that could keep a secret, for the heavens were filled with listening ears, and the forest with watchful eyes, but the earth was filled only with bones. 

The Beast steps away from the tree, edging closer to the threshold of Pottsfeild.

**Maybe I'll trust you**

There’s no reason for the Beast to think he is the one Enoch has chosen.

And yet. 

Above his head he can feel the Queen of the Clouds, pondering just as he was. 

The Beast shakes his head.

**But can you trust me?**

He turns and makes his way into the wood, his feet silent upon the carpet of rotting leaves. 

The harvest lord was a strange one. 

A strange, strange, being. 

The winter warden trails his claws along the bark of the twisted edeltrees, cold frost snaking along behind him as the north wind whispers softly. 

He casts a single glance over his shoulder, white eyes swimming with color towards the strange town of the walking dead, and their stranger master. 

He hums a crooked tune that calls the moon to the stars and the sea to the sky. 

“A strange, strange cat,” He turns back towards his woods and begins to walk more. “Very strange indeed.” He murmurs. 

**Wait and see**

The winds are inclined to agree with him.

**Author's Note:**

> Fun fact, the final part of Eternity in 3 Acts, is not even started beyond a few vague ideas. And if I know myself and my writing capabilities (I don't) its going to be somewhere between 3-8k words. So yeah, you might get that in two weeks and you might get that in 3 months, who knows.
> 
> Second fun fact, Eternity in 3 Acts was actually going to be called Political Alliances in 3 Acts (Told with 3 Songs), and this was going to be the first act, the second act was going to be Tzar Spring's great offence which got him killed and the third act was mostly unplanned but it was going to more or less follow the themes of Of Swords Ravens and Alliances. 
> 
> Instead, Eternity in 3 Acts became part of the philosophical ramblings aspect of the Political saga (It has its place, I assure you). Tzar Spring's death is going to have a story in a slightly different universe, one where Enoch and the Beast did not start off on the right foot (Ugh, that was supposed to be a short story, its getting out of hand), and the third act ended up becoming Of Swords Ravens and Alliances (Yeah, no song could really encompass that, it ended up being a leviathan of a story)
> 
> So this story is the last remaining remnant of the song stories, but if you're like: "Hey, why isn't this part of Eternity in 3 Acts, it has that whole theme about preparing for eternity"- Good job, you recognized what this story grew into, but no, the 3rd act of Eternity in 3 Acts is gonna explain how we got from Eternity Ahead to Eternity behind.
> 
> Have questions? Suggestions? Prompts? I'm on tumblr [Here](https://doyouknowhowtowaltz.tumblr.com/)


End file.
